Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America and the
Caribbean (LAC) with average per capita incomes that do not even
reach half the regional average ($4140 for Bolivia compared to
$9321 for LAC) (1). Average
productivity per person of working age is now exactly the same
as it was in 1967 (2), despite the
substantial advances in education, health, basic services and
available technology over the last four decades.
According to the last census, electricity coverage is about 20%
in rural areas and 82% in urban areas. This leads to a very low
average electricity consumption of only 479 kWh per person per
year, compared to 1715 kWh for the whole LAC region
(3). The high level of poverty (60%),
together with the very deficient road network, implies that
there are only about 5 cars per 100 persons in Bolivia, in
comparison to the worldwide average of 16 per 100 persons
(4).
This
sorry state of affairs suggests that Bolivia probably does not
emit much CO2 to the atmosphere. The data suggests an
average of 0.8 t CO2 per person per year, compared to
the regional average of 2.5 t and the average for OECD countries
of 13 t per person per year (5).
However, this number does not include emissions from
deforestation, which amounts to about 110 million tons per year,
or about 11 tons per person per year (6).
This means that total CO2 emissions per capita in
Bolivia are quite close to the level of OECD countries.
